lovely

Had an absolutely lovely evening last night celebrating our second wedding anniversary. I had grand plans to start the day with french toast and mimosas, but as Kevin leaves for work at 7:30 am, and I am not usually awake until 9:30 am (hey, it's my summer of leisure), this did not actually happen. Nevertheless, we were determined to have a nice, casual, lovely evening together, and we did.

I worked hard to make the house and myself pretty, and when Kev got home (with a bottle of some really yummy sparkling wine, beautiful flowers, and a sweet card) we toasted each other, did a little dancing in the kitchen, read our cards, Kevin serenaded me, and then we headed out to dinner at 112 Eatery in the Warehouse District of Minneapolis. We were about 25 minutes early to dinner and they couldn't seat us yet, so we decided to take a little walk around the neighborhood while we waited for our 8 o'clock reservation. There were some awesome old brick buildings with cool walls and windows and so, naturally, we decided to do an impromptu (and goofy) anniversary photo shoot. After taking way too many pictures of ourselves we walked back to 112 Eatery and sat at the bar to wait for our table. It was perfect timing because the minute I had a glass of riesling in my hand and Kev had a beer, an absolute downpour started outside. We were perfectly happy knowing that we were going to be inside eating delicious food for the next couple of hours. Really, is there anything lovelier than being in a cozy restaurant with the one you love, while it rains outside? I think not.

We chose 112 because it came highly recommended by various foodie friends, and they certainly did not oversell this place! The ambiance was wonderful, the wine tasty, the wait staff attentive and friendly, and the food absolutely amazing. Our anniversary meal is our "don't hold back" splurge each year, and so we did it up last night. To start, we split two appetizers: the steak tartare and the sea scallops on a bed of the most perfect and delectable mushrooms I have ever tasted. For our entrees, I chose the halibut with roasted tomatoes (divine), and Kev ate the pork loin on bone (he loved it). For dessert, I had the chocolate pot de creme (seriously good stuff), and Kevin had the tres leches cake (each dessert with a candle in it - two total for our two years of marriage). Now, at this point we had also eaten two baskets of the yummy bread (I had forgotten what real, creamy, delicious butter tastes like - we eat "whipped vegetable spread" at home), and so we were pretty full. So full, in fact, that we had to bring most of our desserts home, and I have never seen Kevin Shevlin not finish a dessert, so that tells you how much we ate! Kevin had a chardonnay with dinner and I had a nice vouvray - both very good. This was probably one of the best meals I've ever had and it was a wonderful place to celebrate our anniversary - we will definitely be back.

Any anniversary romance that might have happened once we got home was vetoed in favor of laying on the couch watching the Olympics and saying over and over again "Man, I'm full." A great night!